Lanthaler Takes Laas Gold

From Laas, ITA

Feb. 9, 2021 – Italy’s Evelin Lanthaler continued her domination of the women’s natural track luge ranks, beating out teammate Greta Pinggera for gold in Laas.

L-R: Pinggera, Lanthaler, Unterberger (Courtesy Miriam Jennewein – Photolove / FIL Media)

In a one-heat race, Austria’s Tina Unterberger took the lead with four sleds to go. Unterberger held onto the lead until Pinggera took over on the strength of the quickest start of the competition. Lanthaler was the last woman down, and was the second off the top and fastest at the bottom by .36 to win her fifth straight gold. Pinggera finished second, and Unterberger third.

The win for Lanthaler was her 19th in 20 races, while the silver for Pinggera was her sixth straight dating back to the 2019/2020 season.

Both Italy’s Nadine Staffler and Austria’s Riccarda Ruetz finished with season-best finishes of fourth and fifth, respectively. Daniela Mittermair and Michelle Diepold tied for sixth.

With one race to go in the World Cup season, Lanthaler holds a 75 point lead over Pinggera in the season standings. If Pinggera were to win the season finale, Lanthaler would need to finish 15th or better to win the season title. Daniela Mittermair holds third position overall by 20 points over Unterberger and 30 points over Diepold.

Results:

Pos Name Nation Bib Start Finish
1 Evelin Lanthaler ITA 26 16.59 1:03.37
2 Greta Pinggera ITA 25 16.51 1:03.73
3 Tina Unterberger AUT 22 16.76 1:03.88
4 Nadine Staffler ITA 19 16.95 1:04.39
5 Riccarda Ruetz AUT 14 17.09 1:04.70
6 Daniella Mittermair ITA 24 17.04 1:04.75
6 Michelle Diepold AUT 23 16.94 1:04.75
8 Ekaterina Lavrenteva RUS 17 17.05 1:04.81
9 Sara Bachmann GER 21 17.24 1:04.82
10 Lisa Walch GER 20 17.25 1:04.95
11 Anastasiya Slyusar UKR 1 17.41 1:06.25
12 Aleksandra Suvorova RUS 6 17.37 1:06.50
13 Sarah Schiller GER 18 17.45 1:06.63
14 Daria Maleeva RUS 10 17.37 1:06.64
15 Michaela Niemetz GER 11 17.64 1:07.29
16 Vanessa Markt AUT 9 17.83 1:07.59
17 Charlotte Marie Roche FRA 4 17.69 1:07.64
18 Julia Plowy POL 16 17.34 1:07.79
19 Klaudia Natalia Promny POL 15 18.26 1:09.42
20 Patricija Urbanc CRO 13 18.62 1:10.31
21 Nika Nemec SLO 7 18.14 1:10.41
22 Viktoriia Antoniuk UKR 8 19.06 1:11.69
23 Nina Stanic SRB 3 18.80 1:11.97
24 Susa Subic SLO 5 18.80 1:12.17
25 Paulina Lipinska POL 12 18.81 1:12.48
26 Jana Milenovic SRB 2 19.08 1:13.24

Photo courtesy of Miriam Jennewein: Instagram | Facebook